86-year-old Louise Howard fires shots to defend Tennessee home

BULLS GAP, Tenn. (WCYB) - Louise Howard may be 86 years old, but she isn't afraid to defend her home or her life.

On Friday afternoon she was forced to do that. Howard said a young woman broke the glass on her door and forced her way inside her Bulls Gap, Tennessee home.

"I was in shock. I didn't know what she was going to do to me!" Howard said.

Howard immediately grabbed her gun, but the two started to struggle down the hall.

"I already had my gun in my hand, and I wouldn't turn it loose for anything," she explained.

Howard's hands are proof she wasn't letting go.

"She stuck a fingernail in there," said Howard. "She moved her hands sort of released me a bit. I moved over like that, and I was going to shoot her in the stomach, but she took her knee and hit my elbow."